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Varroa--What to do now?

I need some advice on what to do at this point. Back in the middle of August I treated my hive is Apistan and left in the hive for recomend period of time. Dead mites fell. I put screened bottom board on the hive about a month and a half ago with a slatted bottom board. About 5 days ago I noticed 3 dead bees outside of the hive with deformed wings. Yesterday a did a powdered sugar roll and within 6 hours I found 29 varroa on my plastic insert of the screened bottom board. They were various sizes & colors. Some were mix in the sugar and dead. Some were on top of the sugar and still alive (these I might add were redish in color). At this point I'm not sure what to do. November is right around the corner. Is it too late to treat with anything. Maybe EO's? I live in Brookings Oregon, about 7 miles from the ocean in a forested area, elevation about 500 ft. Girls are still flying and there are still drones around. I might add the hive is two deep and the girls are on large cell.

>did a powdered sugar roll and within 6 hours I found 29 varroa on my plastic insert . . .

Assuming the 29 mites found was CAUSED BY the treatment.
It COULD mean that there was very few mites in the hive.
It can ALSO mean that, for some reason the treatment DID NOT remove many mites.

It's ALWAYS best to have (several) PRE-TREATMENT counts of NALURAL fall.
Then, as you count several times AFTER treatment, you can then compare the before to the after to determine how many mites remain.

First of all, terminology: a sugar roll is when you take a sampling of bees from the hive place them in a jar, then add P-sugar to the jar and shake. What you indicate is that you did a powered sugar treatment of the entire hive and then counted mites that fell off immediately after the P-sugar treatment. OK, all that to say I strongly agree with Dave W. I'd further echo his statement that you really do not have conclusive proof either way on the status of the mites in your hive. Personally, I'd be concerned enough to do further monitoring until you can get a better natural mite drop count. Dead bees found with deformed wings is never a good sign and is "almost" always an indicator that mites are (or have been) present. Also note that deformed wings can sometimes look like shredded wings which are sometimes just a sign of old bees. What kind of mite drop did you have prior to and resulting from the strips back in August? If you don't know then chalk this up as a missed opportunity. One should always monitor mites prior to, during, and after treatments. Also, when relying exclusively on strips, you need to be aware that some mites have developed resistance to Apistan, which will make drop counts taken during treatment misleading.

Thank you AstroBee for clarifying the difference between a sugar roll and p-sugar treatment of the hive for me. Yes, this will have to be chalked up as a missed opportunity. I do realize mites have developed resistance to Apistan. Although this was only the second time I had used them, resistance to the strips was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the dead bees. I will continue to monitor and take samplings before, during, and after the next treatment. If you have any suggestions on what to use for treatment in spring I would appreciate the advice. Also when would one use a sugar roll? Wouldn't one receive the same results from a sugar roll and a p-sugar treatment? Are they used for the same purpose?

>mites have developed resistance to Apistan . . .
In some locales, SOME V-mites have developed resistance, but not ALL mites are resistant. You can and probable should test YOUR mites beforing using Fluvalinate, the chemical in Apistan (and other illegal stuff).

>take samplings before, during, and after the next treatment . . .
Please dont wait until "next treatment" to sample, DO IT NOW, all winter, next spring, next summer, next fall! I like to count mites

>suggestions on what to use for treatment in spring . . .
You may not need to treat in spring, BUT you want know if you dont have NUMBERS.

>use a sugar roll . . .
"Sugar roll" is a test method (not as good as NATURAL counts on a sticky board). You put bees and powdered sugar in a jar and "roll" them around to determine IF you have varroa mites.

"Powder sugar" as a treatment, is applied over the frames of whole hive to REMOVE V-mites. If hive has a lot of mites, and the powdered sugar does a good job causing them to fall off the bees, you may have hundreds of mites on the sticky-board.

Okay I'll continue to take samples now, all winter, spring and next summer.

>You may not need to treat in spring, BUT you want know if you dont have NUMBERS.
So what would the critical numbers be and during what period of time? And if they are too high lets say in January what should I do? Or would they even be high during the winter months? Does the mite ever sleep? Right now I have the plastic insert to my screened bottom board covered with oil and in place. I will check this evening. Maybe regressing the bees to small cell would be a better bet. But you would still have to treat the hive until the girls get to where they sould be correct?

>too high lets say in January . . .
In January, a "very liberal allowance" would be about .5 mites per 24 hrs.
(about 5 mites over a 10 day collection period = .5 m/24 hrs.)

In Feb, if count increase to 1 (or higher) you may need to treat then.
By March, a count of 2 and in April, 4 would mean "control" is very much needed.

Varroa never sleep , but winter natural fall number are alway much lower than summer.

>I will check this evening . . .
I dont mean to imply that you need to counts mites EVERY DAY
From now til early spring, once a month clean off sticky board, re-insert and leave for about 5 to 10 days, then count the fallen mites. In spring and during summer, leave the stick board in place for only 3 day, so that debris doesnt build up to a point where you cant see/find the mites. In winter there is less debris.

We are still counting here and will contunue everyday until the weather gets real nasty. This is an important discipline to learn -- I didn't realize how improtant...Thank You for making me see (your posted mite count did it). My bees are close to home and it really doesn't take that much time to do. Something I have noticed, on warmer days the mite drop count goes up.